raebees
Junior Member
Raw Feeder
Yes, i am contagious. 😂😂
Posts: 219
|
Post by raebees on May 10, 2017 1:08:56 GMT -5
1. Ferret's name: Moxie 2. Ferret's weight: 700 ⬇ 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: 1/2oz unless organs 4. Stools on various proteins: good, small, dark 5. Activity levels: Excellent 6. Weekly Menu: Same as Bella
1. Ferret's name: Bella 2. Ferret's weight: 1280 ⬇ 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: 1/2oz unless organs 4. Stools on various proteins: good, less frequent, lighter in color than Moxies 5. Activity levels: Good 6. Weekly Menu:
Mon AM - Quail PM - Pork
Tues AM - Quail PM - Beef
Wed AM - CGH PM - 3oz chicken heart, 1.5oz liver (pork), 1.5oz kidney (beef)
Thurs AM - CGH PM - Beef
Fri AM - Quail PM - 3oz chicken heart, 1.5oz liver (chicken), 1.5oz kidney (pork)
Sat AM - Quail PM - Chicken thigh (meat only)
Sun AM - CGH PM - 3oz chicken heart, 1.5oz liver (pork), 1.5oz kidney (beef)
Dinner (largish beef slices) went over a flop after breakfast 😂 I think Bella just prefers feeling the crunch of the bone. The hardness tells her to bite down. She did eat a little in her normal scissor/drop fashion after adding a little egg wash but nothing of real substance or excitement. Moxie, however, ended the evening by eating extremely well. It was after bed time, after I dropped their sheet and turned off the lights, I heard some kind of smacking/breathing and investigated. It was my tiny hunter 😆
Tomorrow, along with the CGH, I've defrosted a hopper to offer, too. Moxie is highly interested in the smell of prey and Bella actually showed a little interest when I showed them the frozen hopper this evening. I don't know how frequently I can get whole prey since we'll be moving in a couple months, but I figure it's something to work towards.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on May 10, 2017 10:00:34 GMT -5
I told you she'd get there if you didn't cave, and she did :boing: :goodjob: They are both doing really really well And I am proud of you for sticking with it! Now, to really get them used to eating bones, give them bone in meals for the next 2 days straight, all four meals, then give them a break with a muscle meat. They are still building up jaw strength. Also, do you want to try doing one full meal a week of the liver/organ, one full of heart, and a third mixed- or are you happy to do the 3 meals mixed together? The first would start working on building them up to eating chunks of the organ instead of a puree. At least I think they are getting their heart/organs pureed? And to think I was just about to vault your thread (Seriously)
|
|
raebees
Junior Member
Raw Feeder
Yes, i am contagious. 😂😂
Posts: 219
|
Post by raebees on May 10, 2017 21:16:24 GMT -5
😂 I have an awful time making time to post. Especially when it seemed like it was the same story, day after day. Moxie started willingly eating pieces shortly after starting the quail again. Bella would take them from me and drop them like she does with muscle meat until 3 days ago. Even then, I only caught her once picking her own piece and eating most of it. We have a bit of an odd schedule the next two days, a much earlier rising. They didn't do so hot on breakfast this morning, but I did convince them to eat a few pieces this afternoon. I'll stick with the bone in for a few meals. Bella seemed sensitive to the bone meal powder, so I'll keep an eye on her poops.
I don't mind fixing up their organ puree. I like the idea of making sure they don't pick out their favorites. And making it chunkier has seemed to help, I've been increasing the amount that gets diced and lowering the amount that gets pureed. I went to the 3 equal organ meals because they would eat very, very little of liver/organs without the heart.
It does raise a good point, though. When feeding whole prey, especially with multiple ferrets, how can you be sure they've each gotten some of what they need?
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on May 11, 2017 10:01:54 GMT -5
Because with whole prey ferrets are greedy little sods and won't share their mouse or rat Okay we'll leave the organs as they are for now until/if you change your mind. And to be honest what I do is simply not add much if any in for next meal if they don't eat the first one They eat it then! We have got to get your sweet wee dainties turned back into ferrets!
|
|
raebees
Junior Member
Raw Feeder
Yes, i am contagious. 😂😂
Posts: 219
|
Post by raebees on May 12, 2017 1:02:03 GMT -5
Bella is still fighting it. Normally she leaves all food in the cage, even if it is strewn in corners, uneaten. I caught her multiple times today trying to go stash pieces out in the garage 😂 I thought they had eaten so well yesterday morning, but I think she just stashed a few pieces while I wasn't looking. I stopped her today, though. Each time she just looked at me until I handed the meat back, then she turned around and left it in a corner. This afternoon I got a few pieces in each of them. We had an early morning so they didn't eat too much and were looking for dinner by 4. By the time dinner rolled around there was .2oz left so I added to it. Bella did much better this evening. She ate a piece on her own and another one a little later that i offered her. Overnight they have just a little over an ounce of bone in. Moxie didn't eat but she's gotten pretty reliable and I don't quite worry about her as much since catching her eating after bed time the other night. I'm hoping that as Bella's jaws get stronger, she'll be more keen on eating on her own. She's doing much better about not leaving the pieces once she chews a chunk off. We'll be trying more CGH tomorrow, the bones are a bit denser then the quail and they weren't making much progress the other day. Even after crushing it up a little, I could tell they were getting discouraged.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on May 12, 2017 7:25:23 GMT -5
They can stay with bone in for a few days, as long as meat is on it That will help a lot. And believe it or not- they ARE doing much better
|
|
raebees
Junior Member
Raw Feeder
Yes, i am contagious. 😂😂
Posts: 219
|
Post by raebees on May 13, 2017 20:42:32 GMT -5
I forgot last night was supposed to be organs so we'll be doing that this evening. They've both been doing better with the cgh, they've eaten about 2 ounces between last night and this morning. I've been pushing their leftovers on them, they didn't seem to recognize it was still good if it sat there too long 😂 Moxie continues to do extremely well, yesterday she was under the bed eating something. Naturally I assumed it was something she shouldn't be eating. After realizing I couldn't reach her, I shined a light underneath only to see her chowing down on a decent size piece of cgh breast bone. She finished it all but acted like she had something stuck in her mouth (pawing, yawning). I couldn't see anything that might cause her to be uncomfortable, I figure she may have scratched her mouth on a bone and it felt foreign. Bella still tries to stash it all and beg for more. She is getting much better about eating the chunks in full, though.
Both of them are still hung up on muscle meats. They are happy to crunch on something hard but don't want to chew on the meat if there's no bone. If breakfast goes well again tomorrow, I think I'd like to try getting them to eat more odd size pieces of meat. Perhaps an actual chunk will give them something to grip on to.
I'm adding pork brain as the organ tonight. Moxie caught whiff of it as I was packaging and was very appreciative. Here's hoping it tastes as good as it smells 😂
Oh, yes, I did post about it because it didn't seem specific to the menu (and rather hilarious, I had to share), but can flie eating lead to disease or parasitic infestation? I realize it's a bug and they'd eat it in the wild, but do I need to be concerned about worms or her catching anything? We don't use insecticides and I'm not sure where they're hatching, but our garage has no less than 15 flying around at a time. We kill them as they come in the room, there were a few on the ground waiting for me to clean my hands to pick them up, and Moxie got to them first. 😂😂
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on May 14, 2017 9:35:27 GMT -5
First to the flies- all the more protein She evidently enjoys them! You may want to try her on grubs etc if you get the chance. It sounds like Bella simply doesn't like anyone to watch her eat. I had a couple like that. They would stash, but meat would be gone later. And if she wasn't eating enough- by now she'd have become gaunt with weight loss Definitely try them with meat chunks about the same size as the bone in pieces they are already eating. Also, would you refresh me on the proteins they are now eating?
|
|
raebees
Junior Member
Raw Feeder
Yes, i am contagious. 😂😂
Posts: 219
|
Post by raebees on May 14, 2017 12:17:15 GMT -5
Thank you, I think I will take a trip to the pet store to see what kinds of bugs we can find. She really loved the flies, I couldn't believe it.
We have beef, pork, chicken (cgh) and quail regularly. I have goat and turkey in the freezer waiting. I also have a couple mice left as well as some smelt I haven't introduced yet. I've been looking for rabbit but it's fairly expensive here, as are other proteins. $6 bucks a pound is the most I've been spending and that's for the quail.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on May 15, 2017 7:32:00 GMT -5
Both you and they are doing well Let me know how they do with the larger meat chunks instead of the little pieces!
|
|
raebees
Junior Member
Raw Feeder
Yes, i am contagious. 😂😂
Posts: 219
|
Post by raebees on May 15, 2017 18:41:40 GMT -5
Yesterday morning was more CGH. They hadn't eaten but a small amount by dinner so I left it with them overnight. By morning there was still a fair amount left. I went ahead and changed it out for quail, and even though they each ate a wing, they haven't touched it since first putting it in. Tonight is catch up from organs last week and I will be leaving all of it chunky, with no puree. I can't tell if they're refusing the proteins or refusing to chew but I'm leaning towards chewing. Since they normally gobble the puree, I'm hoping chunky organs help them get the picture. Oh, and brain poops are awful! 😂😂 I thought it was the trash! Nope, just their butts!
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on May 16, 2017 9:23:15 GMT -5
It's the chewing they are objecting to They'll get over it. And yes- brain poops are far worse than egg poops for stink :puke:
|
|
raebees
Junior Member
Raw Feeder
Yes, i am contagious. 😂😂
Posts: 219
|
Post by raebees on May 17, 2017 0:30:04 GMT -5
Well resistance continues apace. I kept what they had left for breakfast in with them, about an ounce out of an ounce and a half and added half an ounce of chicken breast strips. Neither really even tried to eat dinner, though Bella did stash a couple pieces. She's hilarious, she really looks like she's trying not to get any on her. Her head is held so high when she grabs a piece 😂 I'm hoping they'll snack a little tonight, if not I'll only leave an ounce with them tomorrow morning and see how that turns out.
I'd really hoped we had hit the end of fighting to eat, they know it's food, they've eaten it of their own accord. They act like their interested until they realize the size of things and just walk away. The largest pieces aren't any bigger than half the flat of a cornish game hen's wing. They both pick up pieces and drop them in a corner but won't bother to chew. Mom's toughing it out but what a struggle. 😕
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on May 17, 2017 10:18:20 GMT -5
I understand, believe me! And you really are doing a great job. They ARE getting there. Keep in mind, summer appetites are now in play, and there is a real chance they may actually only eat an ounce or so a day each. Right now, my 3 who aren't on a mince get 3 oz for a meal, and there are often leftovers. That is for a 4lb male, and 2 1lb females.
|
|
raebees
Junior Member
Raw Feeder
Yes, i am contagious. 😂😂
Posts: 219
|
Post by raebees on May 17, 2017 12:42:41 GMT -5
Dinner was a bust, everything was as I left it but breakfast was a huge hit! I switched it out for chicken necks, kept long but quartered and both of them are currently working their little hearts out on it! Moxie started off by taking a piece Bella had left, right after waking up so I know she was hungry (she sleeps late and eats later). Bella came back after a few minutes and started in on another hunk. They are *slightly* skinnier than I've been leaving them but I wanted to encourage them to take some. And chicken necks are only so big to begin with 😂 I made the mistake of picking up turkey necks, too. Pretty sure it's gonna be a while before they can handle those. My cleaved couldn't even split them! Ah, well. 😂😬 Bella's working on her third piece now, she picked the last two out on her own. Moxie ate 2 pieces as well! That's all I need, just a little encouragement from my girls by hearing the *crunchcrunchcrunch* of dem bones!! 🎉🎉
|
|